Bring Up The Bodies Review

Rich and exciting, Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel continues her Tudor trilogy where Wolf Hall left off.

It is quite hard to call this an historical novel because it goes way way beyond that. This is history in the form of a novel covering the period when Henry VIII has been married to Anne Boleyn for nigh on three years and the cracks are beginning to show.

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The narrator is Thomas Cromwell and he is well placed to know all that is going on. His position and power owe nothing to birth and all to merit and work. He is a very modern man. Meanwhile Henry is growing capricious and vain and harder to control.

Through the persona of Cromwell Mantel reveals the inner workings of politics  including the intrigue, diplomacy and deceit. The narrative adopts a 16th century manner of speech that is in no way caricatured but one that comes to sound normal in very few pages. The syntax, often jagged and abrupt, conveys a sense of action and suspense.

It is easy to get totally absorbed in this world Mantel describes; notwithstanding the religiosity and superstition that still lingered and the acceptance of stomach churning levels of violence, one could almost mentally transfer the plotting to modern-day parliament. Mantel manipulates the plot brilliantly and her clear-eyed characterisation of the players increases our understanding of their thoughts and deeds.

Cleverly written, this is an enormously satisfying read, keeping you on tenterhooks while unwittingly absorbing a history lesson.

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